Pop, Bleep, Fact! Random Truths from the New Wave Underground
Short, sharp, and synthy: A snack-sized burst of new wave facts—from obscure origin stories to fashion-forward footnotes.
Random new wave factoids that you may or may not know. Listen to it or read on!
For his sophomore album Flat Earth, Thomas Dolby had a demo track titled In the Puppet Theatre. It was scratched, but he rewrote it and gave it to the rap group Whodini who would release it as the single Magic’s Wand.
While on the surface the ‘90s was hostile to the new wave sound, several stars became producers for bands of the time. Matthew Wilder produced No Doubt’s monster breakthrough album Tragic Kingdom. The Cars’ frontman Ric Ocasek produced Weezer’s debut. The leader of the Buggles (Trevor Horn) produced for ABC and Simple Minds before helping out Seal.
Blondie has almost as many studio albums (5) after their 17-year hiatus than before it (6).
Declan McManus admired Elvis Presley, and took Elvis Costello as his stage name, several months before Presley’s passing.
The beginning of the Police song Roxanne ($) features Sting accidently sitting on a piano during recording and the other band members laughing in response. Finding it amusing, they left it in the released version.
Ric Ocasek lied about his age by about 5 years when trying to make it big with the Cars, afraid that a 35-year old would not be given a shot.
For his second solo album Strip, Adam Ant enlisted Phil Collins to produce and play drums for the title track and Puss ‘n’ Boots. Listen for his rapid-fire drums in the chorus of the latter song!
Gary Numan and Gary Oldman are only 13 days apart in age. Yeah, Numan is older!
The Bangles Walk Like an Egyptian is actually about walking on a boat, saying you have to strike an ancient Egyptian pose to keep your balance.
Alphaville’s band name was originally the title of their eventual biggest hit (“Forever Young”).
The song Our Lips are Sealed ($) was a hit for the Go-Gos in the US, but a hit for Fun Boy Three in the UK. Jane The Go-Gos’ Wiedlin and Fun Boy Three’s Hall cowrote it.
The Human League was initially against releasing their eventual smash Don’t You Want Me as a single, as they weren’t crazy about the tune and three singles from its album (Dare) were already released.
The guy who yells “Science!” in Thomas Dolby’s She Blinded Me With Science is British nutritional scientist Magnus Pyke. He grew tired of people running up to him and yelling “Science!”
Billy Idol only had a small role in his own video for Cradle of Love, and could only be seen above the waist, because he was recovering from a motorcycle accident where he suffered a bad leg injury.
Tears for Fears had many songs dealing with psychological trauma and healing. For example, Shout was inspired by primal scream therapy.
Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox were romantic partners while in the Tourists. As the band broke up, they broke up too. But then they formed the duo Eurythmics.
Like trivia? You’ll love our Best-of-Year series—premium posts packed with picks and playlists. Start the journey.
